| stevew |
07-13-2004 11:52 AM |
600 Pound Tiger on the Loose.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,125485,00.html
Quote:
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — A 600-pound tiger eluded capture for a second day Tuesday after escaping from the compound of its owner, a former actor who once played Tarzan.
Deputy sheriffs and state game officials set up a perimeter around a search area and started beating the bush again at daybreak, said Willie Puz, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (search).
The 6-year-old tiger was spotted several times, most recently around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday by a woman who said it was in her back yard. Officials hoped it would simply grow hungry and return home in search of food, Puz said.
The tiger was reported missing Monday afternoon from the home of Steve Sipek (search), who played Tarzan decades ago under the screen name Steve Hawkes (search), said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Sipek has raised the tiger since it was a cub.
When the first deputies arrived on the scene Monday, the cat jumped on top of their car, Miller said. Puz said searchers who spotted it several times Monday evening were never close enough to shoot it with tranquilizer darts.
Though law enforcement officers were available to escort nervous residents away from the area, Puz said officials were encouraging people to "go about their normal business."
"The tiger has only roamed about 200 yards from its home, which means it's not out free-roaming all over," he said.
Sipek has another tiger, two lions, a black leopard and a cougar on his property, the Palm Beach Post reported. The cats, mostly castoffs from zoos, are usually kept in a mazelike series of interlocking cages.
In February 2002, a 750-pound tiger mauled a woman who was helping Sipek during a photo shoot at his compound. She was bit on the head.
In 1985, a tame, three-legged black leopard belonging to Sipek eluded searchers for nearly three days before being found wandering near a fence on his property.
Sipek said at the time that he had been devoted to the big cats ever since one pulled him from a fire during the filming of a Tarzan movie.
According to the Internet Movie Data Base, "Steve Hawkes" played Tarzan in a series of Spanish-language Tarzan movies around 1970 and was called Zan of the Jungle when they were released in English. He retired from acting after an on-set accident, it said.
His property is about 15 miles west of Palm Beach. It is bordered by other similar sized estates and mini-ranches, many with livestock. Canals and wooded areas and scrubby brush surround the homes that sit on five-acre lots off dirt roads. Lion County Safari and the swampy Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (search) are a few miles away.
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Go about your normal buisiness.
Yeah, with a 600lb tiger in the area. MMMKAY
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